


Father To Son

by Morpheus626



Category: Queen (Band)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:34:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26127358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morpheus626/pseuds/Morpheus626
Summary: So, the topic of Freddie and Jim and how they might handle raising a teen came up in the DL server today, and after a bit of prompting from the folks there, I came up with this! It’s just a little snapshot, though it does give I think a good view of the parental relationship. And who knows, if folks like this maybe I’ll keep this AU going and write a follow up!
Relationships: Jim Hutton/Freddie Mercury
Comments: 3
Kudos: 18





	Father To Son

**Author's Note:**

> Set in about 1988, in an AU where everyone is healthy and fine (because that’s what makes me happy and what I’m going with here, dang it. Everyone is going to live and thrive and that’s just how it is. I can’t bring anyone back or change what happened irl, but the land of fic gives me some other options while letting me respect what actually happened.) 
> 
> A note that this does operate with the idea that the government would have made a special (and because bullshit homophobic politics) secret allowance for Freddie and Jim to foster/eventually adopt a kid (I don’t talk about it in the fic here, but the HC that goes w/that is that as much as Freddie hates it, his being famous is a big part of what gets them to say yes to them re: fostering.)

“Tell me why we decided to do this again?” Freddie asked, wincing at the slam of the door upstairs. 

“Because we wanted to have a slightly bigger family than us, and the cats, and everyone that lives here with us,” Jim replied. “And we wanted to provide a safe, happy home for a child in need.” 

There was a crash from upstairs, and they both winced. 

“That was probably something expensive,” Phoebe sighed as he walked through the sitting room. “Let me go up and see if he’ll let me in to clean up.” 

“No, let him be, if he wants to be that way,” Freddie said. “He can clean it up himself later.” 

“But will he, or will he pout and refuse to do it?” Phoebe asked with a raised brow. 

“I’ll talk to him later; he’ll be the one to clean up,” Jim said definitively. “He needs some time to cool down.” 

A loud, voice-cracking-right-in-the-middle-of-it shriek came next. 

“Dare I ask what set this off?” Phoebe mused. 

“We told him he can’t have that little girlfriend of his over with his door shut, that’s all,” Freddie scoffed. “As if my parents would have let me have anyone over and let me even go near my room alone with them. Would yours have let you do that?” 

Phoebe shrugged. “Might have depended on the person.” 

“Mine might have,” Jim said. “But they’d also put the fear of God into me that I wasn’t to get anyone pregnant.” 

“Not really something they needed to worry about,” Freddie smirked. 

“No, not really,” Jim admitted. “But he doesn’t know all that, and doesn’t see it that way. Put yourself in his shoes, when you were fifteen, would you be thinking of it like we are?” 

They paused. 

“No,” Freddie mumbled. “Would have tried and failed to throw a fit about it, probably, then sat there fuming after I got shut down.” 

“I’d like to think I’d react decently,” Phoebe said. “But I know that’s not true. It’s just how that age is, it’s a difficult time for anyone.” 

The sound of footsteps thundering back downstairs caught them all, and their heads whipped to the entryway. 

Oliver stood there, a suitcase in hand, tears streaming down his face. “I’m going to live with her. You can’t stop us hanging out together then.” 

“Oh my god,” Freddie tsked. “You aren’t going to live with her.” 

“You can’t stop me!” 

“Fine, we can’t stop you,” Freddie said. “Which cat shall we give your room to, then?” 

Oliver, who had been reaching for his trainers, stopped moving, and turned back to him. “What?” 

“You’re insistent, you’re leaving,” Freddie continued. “Fine. But we can’t just leave your room empty. It’s still yours while you’re here though, so which cat do you want to have it?” 

Oliver let out a nervous giggle. “You’re joking.” 

“I’m as serious as you are about leaving,” Freddie said. 

“Y-you’ll miss me though.” 

“We would,” Jim interjected. “You’re our son, and we’d very much like you to not leave, I feel you should know. But then again, your father did throw me out the last time we argued-” 

“Yeah, but you came back though, and you both said it was silly, and he shouldn’t have done that and you shouldn’t have gone,” Oliver interrupted. He’d dropped his suitcase to the floor. 

Jim nodded. “And we certainly aren’t throwing you out now, because we wouldn’t ever do that to you.” 

“Might think about it, on the days you act like a little shit,” Freddie admitted. “But we never actually would, you’re supposed to be here! However, if you really mean to leave, and if this girl’s parents want you...” 

“Well,” Oliver mumbled. “They grounded her for coming here without telling them.” 

Phoebe motioned to them that he was leaving to check for any broken things in Oliver’s room, but raised a brow at Oliver’s statement. 

“And did her parents want to talk to us at all about that?” Jim asked. 

Oliver nodded. “They said they didn’t care if it was only one of you, cause they know it’s all a big secret thing that who my foster parents are doesn’t get out and what not, and I don’t even think they have any idea that it’s...you two. But they wanted to talk to you and I...” 

“This is why you were home late from school,” Freddie sighed. “Come, sit down. Talk.” 

“No, I’m going!” Oliver said, and picked his bag back up. “I said I was done here, and I meant it!” 

They shared a glance and bit back smiles. It wasn’t that they didn’t understand how serious it was to Oliver, but from the vantage point of an adult, it was almost adorable. 

“Okay,” Freddie said. “Tell us the rest before you go to her parents, who I’m guessing do not want you anywhere near their daughter.” 

“They didn’t say that exactly,” Oliver said. “Just...I told them that I’m almost an adult, so they could just talk to me, and they said no, they wanted one of my parents, and I said fuck that, and-” 

“Oliver!” Jim was aghast. “I know we didn’t raise you from a baby, but you can’t tell me you were taught to talk to someone’s parents like that; I don’t believe it.” 

“Well, no,” Oliver whined. “But you should have heard them! Talking about how I wasn’t a ‘good influence’ on her, and must want her to end up out of school raising my kids or something, on welfare programs-” 

He dropped his suitcase again and threw his hands up. “I don’t even like her like that; we’re friends! Why would I ever want to...do that with a girl? She’s my friend, that’s disgusting!” 

Another shared glance, this time holding a full discussion of ‘Is he...’ and ‘Does he not know that he’s...’ 

“Oliver,” Jim said slowly. “Just a question, and you don’t have to answer it if you don’t want to, or aren’t comfortable-” 

“But who do you see yourself...doing that with, as you put it?” Freddie interjected. “I think I have an idea, but I don’t want to presume anything.” 

“I..I don’t know, I guess,” Oliver said, blushing. “I mean, I do know, and there is Sam at school, but he’s...he’s got a girlfriend, and he’s really lovely and I’m not and so it wouldn’t happen anyway and-” 

“This wasn’t ever about us asking you to close your door, was it?” Jim interrupted. “Or it was, only in the sense that you can’t understand why we would have asked you to at all, when Claire is only your friend.” 

Oliver nodded. “All we were doing was listening to music, and I’m not interested in her like that, and I never would be! I don’t...get that.” 

“I do ponder,” Freddie said. “How much of this comes from you growing up the last few years here.” 

“He’s been around straight people,” Jim said. “We’ve had Mary and her family over before, and John, Roger, and Brian and all of their families.” 

“I know, but-” Freddie started.

“Are you two trying to figure out if you made me gay?” Oliver interrupted. “I’ve known since I was like...I don’t know, even. I just never thought about girls like that. Boys, yeah. But not girls. It’s never been a thought in my mind.” 

“You can’t ‘make’ someone gay,” Freddie said. “And I think you know that already, but I only worried that you haven’t seen the full spectrum of relationships, and what they can be, that’s all I meant.” 

“I have,” Oliver said. “Seen that, I mean. I know how you and Dad love each other. I’ve seen your bandmates, and their families. Mary with her husband and Mack, when they’ve been over. You haven’t like...deprived me of anything. I just don’t know why you’d think I was like them. I mean, they told you why they placed me with you, right?” 

They shook their heads. 

“It wasn’t discussed much aside from that it was a lot of money, a lot of arguing with the government, and a lot of promising to keep it secret until you were grown that they’d let a gay couple foster a child,” Freddie said. “What did they tell you about it?” 

“I asked for parents who would accept me,” Oliver said. “And they always told me ‘we can’t promise anything, just be happy a family wants you’, you know. But then they said there was a family that would be perfect for me because they were...like me. I figured you already knew all of that, and knew I was gay.” 

“It was not mentioned to us, or we would never have bothered you about having Claire over,” Jim said. “Now, we might have said something about the days Sam was over, had we known-” 

“I did think it was weird that you never made me leave the door open with him,” Oliver interrupted. “Even though it would never happen; he’s got stupid Laura-” 

“Don’t,” Freddie said sharply. “You won’t get anywhere holding onto hatred like that. There’s someone out there for you, just maybe not Sam.” 

Oliver opened his mouth to protest. 

“No, hear me out. I have spent literally my entire life thinking I wouldn’t be loved properly. Wouldn’t find anyone. Tried again, and again, and had no luck in finding someone that made me happy,” Freddie continued, and looked to Jim. “That I could make happy.” 

“But then your father and I found each other, and he fought me, so he won me,” Freddie said. “But I spent years upset and angry and horribly sad and bitter about it, in turns with the good moments where I thought, with each boyfriend, that maybe I’d found the right person. But those moments could have been even better, had I not been hanging on to all of the rest of that.” 

Oliver nodded. “I don’t really hate Laura. Just jealous.” 

“And that’s okay,” Jim said. “It’s normal to feel something like that. But you can’t take it out on either of them; you’re responsible for your feelings. You know that.” 

He nodded again. “Claire’s parents really are still mad at me. I don’t think I can go over there until you guys talk to them. Can I stay here?” 

Freddie stood and walked over to wrap him in a hug. “What a stupid question. Of course you’re staying here; we weren’t going to let you leave!” 

“I thought you said there were no stupid questions?” Oliver asked, his voice muffled with his face pressed against Freddie. 

“There are when it comes to something like that,” Freddie said, letting him go. “This is your home! You’re always welcome here, even after you get old and go away from us and only visit at the holidays.” 

“I’ll visit more often than that,” Oliver said with a small smile. 

“And that’s lovely, but if you’re too busy living your life and being happy, then we’ll be chuffed just to see you at Christmas,” Freddie said. “The most important thing is that you’re happy, and that you know you can always come back home. The cats may unofficially take over your room while you’re away, but we won’t actually give it to them.” 

“I can share with them,” Oliver laughed. 

“Isn’t that basically what we all do already?” Jim asked as he joined them, and quickly grabbed Oliver’s suitcase from the floor. “We live here, but really only because they allow us...” 

Oliver nodded, then winced. “I sort of broke a vase. In my room. I’m sorry about that, but I should go help Phoebe clean it. I know that’s what he went to go do, but it’s my mess.” 

He took his suitcase from Jim, and trotted back upstairs to his room, calling for Phoebe as he went. 

They both let out a sigh once he was out of earshot. 

“Can you believe I asked them if we could have more than one, at one point?” Freddie asked. “What was I thinking, the stress from just one is enough, oh my word-” 

“I know,” Jim interrupted, a hand at Freddie’s hip, pulling him close. “But I think we’re doing okay. We didn’t even have to prompt him to go help clean up, you know? And he wasn’t like that when he first got here.” 

Freddie nodded. “That’s true. A wonder what three years can do for a kid, apparently. Just never thought I’d be someone who would be the parent to do that!” 

“Well, you are,” Jim said, and kissed him on the cheek. “I should probably find the number for Claire’s parents, and call and apologize for what happened.” 

“You know I’d do it if they wouldn’t recognize my voice,” Freddie sighed. 

“I know,” Jim said. “Don’t worry about it; I don’t mind. Because you’re going to go give him...the talk, aren’t you?” 

“I mean it isn’t like they noted on the forms if he’d already had that talk,” Freddie said. “And now that we know he’s gay, that’s a talk we’re actually equipped and responsible to give him; can you imagine if he’d had straight parents trying to go over safe sex and relationships with him? He might try packing his things again, but may as well do it now, since the topic more or less came up...” 

“I don’t think he’ll do that,” Jim said. “All the same, good luck, and I’ll be up to help you as soon as I’m off the phone.” 

Freddie winced. “Good luck to you on that. Please let them know my apologies as well, and that we’re not going to let him talk to his friend’s parents like that again. Hopefully they won’t hold a grudge about it; I’d hate to think he couldn’t see Claire at all again over this.” 

They exchanged resolute nods, and headed in opposite directions: Freddie, upstairs to Oliver’s room, and Jim to the phone in the hall. 

And for the rest of the night, Garden Lodge fell happily, wonderfully, silent. 


End file.
